


In Time I Will Catch You

by firetoflame



Category: Twilight Series - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Domestic Fluff, Drama & Romance, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Vampires, human esme, mentions of abuse, teacher esme
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-30
Updated: 2018-04-30
Packaged: 2019-04-30 08:28:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 9,858
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14492916
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/firetoflame/pseuds/firetoflame
Summary: Alice is buying apples for a pie she is never going to bake when she first sees the new English teacher, Miss Platt. When her visions of Carlisle's future begin to shift, she employs Emmett and a poorly written paper to help fate along. Though not everything is as simple as the fairy tales she's read. Ironically, sometimes the monsters aren't the vampires. AU/Human Esme





	1. Chapter 1

Alice hummed thoughtfully as she investigated what looked to be an impeccably bright bag of apples. They were of the green variety, and though she could detect tiny imperfections in the slick skin, they smelled sweet, though decidedly tangy, especially in comparison to their red counterparts.

"Do you think these would go well in a pie?" she wondered.

Rosalie huffed, pushing the grocery cart closer. "Does it really matter? It's not as if we're actually going to bake with them."

"No," Alice agreed, "but it's fun to pretend." She tilted her head, spying Rosalie out of the corner of her eye. She wore a mask of beautiful indifference, though Alice could tell she was cracking.

"Your fascination with mundane human things never ceases to amaze me." She held her hand out for the bag and Alice skipped happily to her side.

She grinned wide, causing Rosalie to roll her eyes, but a tiny grin was starting at the corner of her mouth and Alice knew she'd won her ever stubborn sister over.

"These are too sour," Rosalie declared, inspecting the bag of granny smith apples. She inhaled deeply, that tiny grin becoming a smile and not for the first time Alice wished her gift let her see the past as much as it did the future.

"When I was a girl," Rosalie began, blinking as if clearing clouds from the memory, "there was a woman who lived with us. I think she used to cook; yes, Lettie was her name. She was old and looked like a strong wind might blow her over, but she made the most wonderful apple pie. Whenever I was upset I would sit in the kitchen with her. She never spoke much, but I liked watching her. And she used these." Rosalie snatched a package of dark red apples from the display. "Sweet and crisp."

Alice took the bag, placing it in the cart. She beamed at the memory that had been shared.

"Don't look at me like that."

"Like what?"

Rosalie ran her fingers through her thick blonde hair, pushing the waves over her shoulder and away from her face. Across the store men turned to gawk and Rosalie moved behind a stack of orange crates, out of their sight-line, to be less conspicuous. "Do you think Bella and Edward are done in the soup aisle yet?"

Alice shrugged, her vision going hazy for a moment as a glimpse of the future took its place. She bit her lip as the image fell away. "We should probably give them a few more minutes."

Rosalie made a retching sound behind her. "And people complain about me and Emmett."

"It is their anniversary." Alice began adding other various fruits and vegetables to the cart. She couldn't remember liking any of them from her human life, so instead she arranged them in an aesthetically pleasing grouping of colours.

"We don't need that many eggplants, Alice. And they could have very well stayed home to celebrate."

Alice put a couple of the purple vegetables back in the display rack. "You know Bella likes to help with the shopping. It reminds her of Charlie."

Rosalie bit back whatever sarcastic comment she was about to say. "Yes, well, all I'm saying is that we're supposed to be discreet. School is starting up again. People will want to know all about what the elusive Cullen's were up to all summer, besides making out in the canned food aisle."

"It was the cereal aisle, actually."

Rosalie rolled her eyes again as Edward appeared, one arm looped over Bella's shoulder, the other holding onto a basket full of non-perishables that would be destined for the local food pantry once they had gone through the weekly show of buying groceries. It was often a task Carlisle did, but since the hospital was rather busy in the summer months with elective surgeries and they were all off school, they had to find some productive way to keep up their appearances in town.

They'd been staying in Forks for a couple years now, and with the perpetually cloudy skies and a house set deep in the Olympic peninsula, Alice hoped they might be able to make a home here for a while. To see themselves through graduation and even a few years away at community college before Carlisle had to relocate and they all went their separate ways again.

She didn't like when the family was separated. It always felt too long even though they had forever. The Cullen's had been the only family she could remember having and though she and Jasper had been living with them for over five decades now, it sometimes felt like they had just met. She looked up suddenly, realizing her mind had been wandering.

Edward was gazing at her intently. He offered a sympathetic smile and in her head a vision appeared. They were sitting on the rocky overhang that sheltered the field where they liked to play baseball. Edward was smiling at her, preparing to race her to the field where the rest of the family awaited the approaching thunderstorm.

"Can you two stop," Rosalie huffed. "You know Bella and I are right here. You can speak out loud, you know."

"It's nothing," Edward murmured, "Alice just saw that baseball might be an option tonight."

Rosalie hummed, appeased by the news. "Emmett will be happy."

"And Carlisle will be off early,"Alice added, "so he'll be able to join us."

"The whole family," Edward said and Alice knew it was for her benefit. He grinned at her until Rosalie growled and pushed the cart between them.

"I hate when you two get like this. You're like an old married couple."

Bella sighed. "Let's go pay, people are starting to stare."

Alice followed Rosalie up to an open till. Edward and Bella crowded in behind her. Ahead of them was a young woman; well, not exactly young, early thirties perhaps. She leaned around Rosalie for a better view. Yes, the woman was about Carlisle's age. She had lovely caramel hair. It hung in loose waves to her shoulder blades, tucked behind her ears as she fiddled in her wallet for her debit card.

Her eyes were a dark, forest green, and her heart shaped face made Alice think of the princesses in those old Latin fairy-tales she had read from Carlisle's book collection.

"She's pretty," Alice whispered.

"Yes," Bella agreed. "I wonder who she is."

Rosalie paused as she loaded the belt with their purchases in order to regard the woman. She was dressed modestly in dark jeans and a navy sweater, though it was hard to deny she had a lovely figure. When Rosalie didn't immediately reject Alice's statement, she knew that even she couldn't really find a fault with the woman.

And the only reason they were so intrigued was because the sheer size of Forks meant that they knew of everyone in town. This woman was clearly new to the area. She smiled warmly at the young cashier as she accepted her receipt, then moved to the end of the till to start packing her groceries.

Alice looked expectantly back at Edward who was busying himself by arranging the food in a kind of tetris game on the till, until there was no available space left. "Well?" she prompted.

"I'm not sure yet. She's thinking about the high school and the reading list."

"Maybe she's a teacher," Bella offered. "Mrs. Dower was due to go off on maternity leave. Perhaps she's filling in as the English substitute."

"I guess we'll find out on Monday," Rosalie said as the cashier began ringing through their groceries.

The woman looked up at them suddenly, almost as if sensing their prying eyes, but instead of staring at them in startled shock like so many people do when confronted with vampires, she simply offered them that same warm smile she'd given to the cashier.

Then she gathered her bags and walked away.

Edward stared after her.

"What is it?" Bella wondered.

"Her thoughts . . . they're . . ." he struggled to find a way to describe it. "They're soft. And gentle in a way I'm not used to hearing in humans. It sort of reminds me of—"

"Who?"

Edward shrugged. "Like Carlisle I guess."

"Speaking of Carlisle," Rosalie said as she handed over her credit card to pay. She held her phone out to Alice. There was a text message with a photo attached. It told them to hurry home before Emmett started using the squirrels as batting practice. It also showed a dozen new baseball bats sitting on the kitchen table.

"Guess baseball is happening," Bella said.

And as they left the store, the sky darkened, and in the distance they could hear the thunder rolling in like a low hum on the edge of the grey horizon.


	2. Chapter 2

Esme hauled her groceries up the two flights of stairs to the little walk-up apartment at the end of the hall. It was on the back of the building so it had a lovely view of the treeline that started just steps away from the apartment's parking garage, filling her entire view with lush trees and patches of bluish grey sky.

She turned the key and pushed the door open with her foot, dropping everything in the doorway.

The kitchen opened right off the front hall so it was rather convenient, but instead of putting things away, she touched the door knob twice, making sure it was locked—a habit that would take a long time to break—and pulled her cellphone out of her pocket.

She'd gotten a new one as soon as she'd moved at the beginning of the week.

There were only three numbers programmed into it so far.

The first belonged to her best friend Sarah. They'd grown up in Columbus together and even after Sarah and her husband had moved to Tampa, they'd remained as close as any two people could be. Esme had been there for the birth of both Sarah's children, who now affectionately called her Auntie, and even when Sarah had buried her childhood dog Archie—the same lab that Esme remembered growing up with as she and Sarah spent long afternoons climbing trees and racing their bikes through the wheat fields near her grandparents farm.

The second was her mother's number. She never had an overly warm relationship with her mother, it was really her grandparents that had raised her, which was probably partly why Esme had yet to make that phone call. It was on her to-do list, but maybe something she would tackle tomorrow. Or at the end of the week. Or never.

The last number was for the main office at Forks High School, where she'd be starting work on Monday, filling in as a temporary full-time staff member for the English teacher who was off on maternity leave.

Esme hovered her thumb over her mother's number before skipping up and hitting Sarah's. It rang twice.

"Hey, it's just me again. Thought I'd check in."

Sarah's chipper voice came through, along with the baby babble of her nine month old daughter Kayla, who sounded like she was splashing around in the bathtub. "How's the place looking?"

Esme plopped down on the small grey sofa—her only living room furniture thus far—and considered the curtain-less windows. "It needs some work."

"Well, you always did like a project."

"I did," she sighed. "No, I do. You're right."

"Now that sounds like the old Esme."

Esme let out a little huff of breath that ended in a smile as she began to daydream about paint colours and matching accent pillows and maybe some pretty art for the big empty wall behind her.

"How are you though?" Sarah asked. "Really?"

Esme let that one linger. How was she? She could breathe again, that's for sure. For the first time in years she didn't feel trapped or alone or frightened.

Sarah began to make nervous noises on the other end of the phone. "You took this job out of nowhere, Es. I know you were looking at leaving him, I just thought there'd be more warning, or that you'd ask for help. You know you could have come and stayed with me and Alex. The kids love you. They miss you. I miss you."

Esme smiled against the phone. "I miss you guys too."

"And you're still set on not telling me where you are?"

"Yes," Esme said. It was the one thing she was certain of in all of this. "I don't want to leave any trails. You know what Charles is like. Until I can sort through all of this and figure out how to be rid of him for good, I can't."

"You'd think the divorce papers would have been enough?"

Esme chuckled, though it wasn't funny. "It'll work out somehow," she said. "Just know that I'm safe. I'm in a little town full of people who aren't him. I rented a tiny little apartment. I'm going to paint it next week and buy some curtains. And I'm going to start teaching again, so I'm happy. Happier than I've been in a long time."

"Alright, Es. Call me on Monday after school and tell me everything. Promise?"

"Promise. Give the kids a kiss from me, okay? And say hi to Alex."

"Will do. Talk to you later."

Esme hung up the phone, put her music app on shuffle, and left it on the kitchen counter as she worked. She lifted the grocery bags onto the small counter by the fridge and began unpacking. She'd been living off mostly cereal, milk, and coffee for the past couple days as she got settled into the apartment.

She had been so busy going back and forth to the high school to fill out paperwork and start planning her lessons that food was the last thing on her mind. The regular English teacher had left her a tentative schedule and the reading list, so Esme had also been up to Port Angeles to pick up the few books she didn't already own. She'd been skimming through some of Shakespeare again to make notes and highlight important points in the text. It'd been a while since she'd been in a classroom and even longer since she'd been in teacher's college, studying the material, but now she felt prepared enough to get through the first week until she found her footing and was able to gauge the academic level of the students in her classes.

Seeing as she'd had some time to spare, she'd finally gotten around to doing a proper grocery shopping. Forks wasn't the most bustling town, but it had the basics and you really couldn't beat the view of the sun setting through the trees. Esme still marvelled at how green and alive everything was—the trees, the flowers, even the earth shimmered with it—almost like she'd stepped into a fantasy world. Maybe this move would turn out to be a very good thing. Some time away, to clear her head. To start fresh. It would help.

She climbed onto the bar stool next to the counter and plucked an apple from the fruit bowl she'd put beside the toaster. It was honey sweet and just the right kind of crisp as she bit down on the flesh. After living on cereal for the better part of a week it was a welcomed change. As she ate, she opened up her laptop to check her emails, returning a few to her new colleagues and some overly eager parents who were part of the PTA.

She left the email from her lawyer unread. She knew there was work to do there, but she wanted to start the week out on a good note, one that did not include dealing with Charles. She'd let herself worry about that next weekend. Instead, she logged onto the school portal and opened up the roster of her students this semester and began looking over their grades and the comments left by previous teachers.

For the most part they seemed like your average teenagers: some excelled, some struggled, some needed to talk less in class, some more. Others needed to actually come to class. It wasn't until a common name started appearing in her roster that she paused. Cullen. There were four of them. Alice, Edward, and Bella were juniors. Emmett would be in her senior classes. Another name was associated with their files and she soon opened up the files of Rosalie and Jasper Hale. They would also be in her senior classes. She studied their photos. Each of them were desperately pale, with similar golden eyes and striking features.

When she studied them closer she recognized a couple of faces from the store earlier. She hadn't spoken to them, but the little one—Alice—and the one with the long brown hair—Bella—they had smiled back at her. They seemed friendly enough. She wondered what their story was but resolved to leave the rest of her wondering until Monday when she could actually meet her students. She didn't want to get ahead of herself, not when everything was just starting to work out.

So instead she opened a link for the local hardware store and started deciding on a paint colour. One that would match the pretty mauve curtains she'd seen in a store front yesterday.


	3. Chapter 3

Esme woke around 5:30 Monday morning. It was a half hour before her alarm but she was nervous and excited, both of which prevented her from being able to fall back asleep.

So instead she got up, showered, and tip-toed around her apartment in her dressing gown with a cup of coffee as she waited for her hair to dry enough to use the curling iron on it. After breakfast she brushed her teeth, did her hair, touched up her make-up and then got dressed. Her blouse was purple and she tucked it into a soft black pencil skirt that stopped just shy of her knees.

She dug in the back of her closet for her favourite black heels. They were comfortable and well worn, perfect for being on her feet for most of the day.

When she had packed and double checked that she had everything, Esme made her way downstairs and started her car. She put the radio on as she drove, letting the music clear her mind. The nerves had vanished somewhat, replaced by a giddy anxiousness.

She remembered being just as excited for her first day of high school as a girl. She supposed some things never changed, no matter how old you were.

When she entered the staff room that morning it was packed. The Principal wanted to have a group meeting just before they all headed off to their morning classes. Esme put her stuff in a locker and joined the other teachers.

A slim, blonde woman in a black track suit turned her head and held out a hand. "Tammi Flynn. Phys Ed. I don't think we've met yet."

Esme reached for her hand. "Esme Platt. English."

"Ah, you're Connie's replacement. I wondered when they'd get around to filling the position. Most of the staff are lifers here. Nobody wants to move to little old Forks to teach."

"Except you, obviously." A young man stood on her other side. "Jeremy Daniels," he said, also offering his hand. "Have you been by your classroom yet?"

"Last week, during prep."

"Well I'm just across the hall. If you need anything just knock."

Esme saw Tammi roll her eyes on her other side. "Or you can always come visit me in the gym. Phys Ed teachers tend to be the favourite. No essays. And I've known most of these kids since they were in diapers, so they tend to listen when I tell them things. You run into issues just threaten them with a visit from Coach Flynn."

"Good to know," Esme said.

Tammi nodded as the Principal arrived, greeting them all before she got to the point. Ms. Halliday was a no-nonsense kind of woman with trim brown hair, neat square rimmed glasses, and a voice that could travel across a room with ease. She reminded them all of the mandatory extra-curricular activities that they had to volunteer for, explained the new late student policy, and wished them all luck with their first day. It was easy to see how she'd found herself in the position of Principal. Esme herself thought she was too soft-hearted for that kind of work, but looked forward to working with the woman.

She said goodbye to Tammi and when she'd retrieved her bag, walked with Jeremy to the South wing of the school which housed English, History, and the language departments.

"Well, I'll see you at lunch," Jeremy said. He waved, moving to stand in the doorway of his classroom.

Esme opted just to stand at the front of her room and quietly unpack her bag as the students filed in. Maybe when she'd been here a few weeks she'd feel more comfortable greeting them at the door. For now she'd just be glad if they managed to stay awake for the lesson.

She opened her laptop and hooked it up to the overhead projector just as the last of the students filed in. They'd lingered in the hall with friends until the warning bell rang, and she could already see a few of them blinking the sleep out of their eyes. The first week back at school after summer holidays was always an adjustment.

She glanced around at the group of seniors, spying the blonde girl from the grocery store at the back of the class—Rosalie. Beside her sat Jasper, who she guessed was Rosalie's twin considering they were in the same year, and the burly Cullen boy Emmett. He had an easy, wide smile on his face as he lounged in his chair.

Esme took a deep breath as the final bell rang and the class fell silent.

She started with a smile, picked up the clicker for the projector, and stepped to the side of the screen before starting the slideshow.

She kept her introductions quick, welcomed them all to their last ever high school English class, and then made a quick rundown of the semester, course expectations, and handed out the reading list.

Some of the kids grumbled, others yawned, and a few smiled and bumped fists, obviously familiar with the books.

Esme walked around the room as she spoke, familiarizing herself with faces and names as kids answered questions over the course of the class. As the morning went on, the class grew more animated. They shared their summer stories, some of which Esme had to edit to stay school appropriate, which the kids got a kick out of. Esme talked about post-secondary opportunities for any of the kids that might want to pursue English. She balanced the slide show with the lesson plan Mrs. Dower had left her with videos and memes that kept the kids entertained. She firmly believed that learning should be fun and that using different mediums allowed kids with different learning styles to remain engaged.

When the bell rang and the class filed out, they were chatting happily and some even shouted that they would see her tomorrow as they disappeared down the hall.

In that quiet moment, before the next class arrived, she let out a breath. One class done, rather successfully she thought. Three to go.

The next class—another group of seniors—came and went much the same.

* * *

At lunch Alice herded the family to their usual table in the back of the cafeteria. They sat with the same assortment of greasy, stale food products on their trays and pretended to eat. Jasper and Emmett sat at opposite ends of the table, partaking in a stealthy french fry war that ended when one of the fries grazed Rosalie's hair and she threatened to dismember them.

"So," Alice wondered, "how was the new English teacher? We don't have her until next period."

Emmett shrugged. "She's real nice. Like genuine nice. Like the kind of teacher that would write you a reference letter to get you into Harvard even if your grades were shit."

Rosalie smirked. "You aiming for Harvard this time, babe?"

"I don't know. Does the sounds of an ivy league man turn you on?"

Rosalie flicked a grape across the table at him. "I think she's smart. Much smarter than a high school English teacher."

Edward snickered.

"What?"

"Since when do you bestow compliments on humans?"

Bella nudged him with her foot and it moved his chair slightly. "Be nice."

"I'll give her that though," Jasper said. "She genuinely cares about helping the students, and she wasn't boring like Mrs. Dower."

"And she's not bad looking, as far as teachers go," Emmett added. "Ow, babe, my arm! I mean objectively speaking, if I was a hormonal teenage boy." Rosalie huffed and crossed her arms, looking out the window to the dandelion covered fields. Emmett smirked and made a wavy hourglass shape with his hands.

Both Edward and Bella whacked him that time and Jasper chuckled.

"Well, I saw her this morning and I do like the way she dresses," Alice said. "She might be the most fashion conscious—" Her voice faded out and the din of the cafeteria drifted into the distance as a vision of Carlisle materialized. He was walking through a meadow, the sun bright above. Tiny diamonds reflected in his skin. When he stepped out of the way she could see a woman. He held his hand out to her and Alice gasped as she realized it was Miss Platt. And where there should have been fear, there was only awe and warmth and smiles as Carlisle pulled her into his arms and pressed his lips against hers.

The vision cracked into pieces and fell away, throwing Alice back into the bustle of the cafeteria. Her family looked at her, concern etched into their features, all except Edward, who just gaped.

"No," he said.

"Yes," Alice squealed. She clapped her hands together.

"No," Edward repeated, disbelief in his voice.

"What?" Bella asked. "What did you see, Alice?"

Edward shook his head. "I don't believe it."

"What?" Emmett demanded.

Rosalie inspected her cuticles, but her eyes cut across the table, annoyed.

"It was clear, Edward. As clear as any of ours."

"For the love of God, what was it?" Emmett barked.

Alice looked at him, her smile glowing. "Carlisle and Miss Platt, they were together."

"Like together as in romantically or—"

"Definitely romantically," Alice sighed.

"Well, hot damn, good for Carlisle."

"This is huge," Alice said. "Do we tell him? Should we?"

"Absolutely not," Rosalie said. "If you tell him before he can meet her, you'll spook him and he might make a decision that changes everything. Just let it happen, Alice."

"But—"

Bella took her hand between both of hers. "Alice, I know this is asking a lot of you, but for once in your life, can you please be patient."

Alice grumbled as she sat back in her chair, causing Jasper to press a kiss to the side of her head. "Fine, but I'm not going to like it." She grabbed Bella's hand again. "C'mon. I want to be early for class. It's time to meet our future . . . I don't know what, but she's going to love Carlisle and that means we're going to love her back. So it's time to do some research."

Edward made a face but waved to the others as they headed off to class.

* * *

After lunch was Esme's class with her first set of juniors and this time she recognized the rest of the Cullen's, sitting in the back corner of the room. Alice and Bella took a pair of desks together, with Edward right behind them.

Her lecture was similar to the morning, though a little less serious seeing as they still had a couple years before thinking about graduation. They talked about the reading list, and though the Cullen's didn't necessarily seem bored, Esme had the distinct impression that if she were to ask any of them a question from the current reading list they'd all be able to answer. She'd read that they were all in advanced streams before leaving their last school in Alaska, so she made a mental note to find better ways to engage them.

She even considered contacting her old professor at Columbus University. She knew there were bridging programs that gave high school students an opportunity to sit in on university classes, so she might be able to arrange an online course for credit if the Cullen's wanted to give it a try.

She looked over to find Edward smiling at her.

She returned it for a moment. After getting side tracked with that thought, Esme handed out copies of Macbeth to the class. Though they groaned about starting with Shakespeare, Esme began the unit talking about the supernatural elements in Macbeth, showing the kids the history of the stage play and the superstitions surrounding its performance.

That got their attention and she hoped it would keep them engaged enough as they started studying the rest of the play.

When that class ended and fourth period began, Esme was almost sad to think her first day was coming to an end. She watched the last class file out with the final bell and repacked her bag. There was no marking to do as of yet, but she stopped by the staff room on her way out to check her mail box. There were first day notices for staff printed on bright paper and folded into thin slits to fit in the tiny cubicles.

She passed Tammi on her way to the parking lot and she wished her a goodnight. In the pile of mail from the staff room was also a note from Jeremy telling her that he hoped her first day was a success. Esme found herself smiling as she drove through town.

She was in such a good mood that when she passed that eclectic little furniture shop she pulled over and went inside to purchase the curtains she had seen as well as a few accent pillows and a throw blanket for the sofa.

By the time she got home, hung the curtains, and made dinner it was well past six. She puttered around the apartment, doing the dishes and prepping her lunch for the next day. Finally at seven, when she knew bath time and dinner would both be over, she decided to give Sarah a call.

When Sarah answered it was accompanied by a wailing child. "One second," Sarah said. There was a scuffling sound. "Say hi to Auntie Es, Kayla."

"Does someone not want to go to bed?" Esme asked, her voice growing softer, more musical, as she talked to the screaming toddler. There were a few babbles and some hiccups on the other end of the phone.

"I'm just putting her down now," Sarah said. "She didn't nap today, so she's being a complete fuss."

Esme stayed on the line while Sarah read one of the primary books that sat on the shelf in Kayla's room. Esme knew some of them by heart now. When the story was done and the kid was asleep, Sarah let out a sigh of relief into the phone. "Give me one second, I'm going downstairs to pour myself a glass of wine."

"Is Alex working nights?"

"Yes, I hate this two week rotation. He gets to leave just before bedtime starts. I swear Es, I don't have enough hands. Today I was at the grocery store with the terrible two while Alex was sleeping. In the time it took me to grab dish soap from the shelf, Connor had pulled down one of those massive displays of toilet paper. I mean like it was an avalanche, Es. And he was buried. I thought he might have suffocated before I got to him. When I dug that kid out, I turned around to find Kayla with both hands down her diaper. Then she does this ta-da thing, pulling them out all fudgy. I swear I almost lost my mind. People were staring. I started sweating."

Esme laughed into the phone, full and loud and deep. The kind of laugh that hurt your abs.

"It's not funny," Sarah insisted. "I swear I'm going to pack them into a FedEx box and ship them your way for a while."

"I'll have to come visit over Christmas."

"It's not soon enough."

"I know," Esme agreed. "It never is."

"Okay, wine is secured. I'm sitting down for the first time today. The kids are quiet. So, tell me how it was, quickly, before they wake up!"

"Amazing," Esme gushed, flopping down on her bed. The sheets were new and the comforter was a dark grey and everything still smelled like fabric softener. She stretched happily, reveling in the softness.

"You missed it, didn't you?"

"More than I realized."

"Being around kids again will be good for you. Heck, being around functional adults will be a nice change."

"I'll say."

"So, meet any hot teachers?"

"Sarah! Honestly."

"What? Just because of the Charles drama doesn't mean you can't appreciate a decent guy, Esme."

"I know, it just feels weird. I've taken the ring off. I've left. I've sent the divorce papers. And he's still there, in the back of my mind. I don't even know how I would begin to explain him to someone new." She took a deep, shuddering breath. "I'm not even sure I can."

"He didn't deserve you, Esme. And he doesn't get to rule your life now. Besides, who said it had to be anything serious. You can window shop, browse. You're a free woman as far as I'm concerned."

Esme grinned against the phone. Sarah was right.

"Besides, I have to live vicariously through your sex life now because hell if Alex and I are having any."

"Why not?"

"Cause he wants another kid. I think we can barely handle the two we have and we had Kayla without even trying. In fact, we were actively trying to prevent it as I recall. But she's here and I love her, but I don't want any other surprises."

Esme snorted.

"Okay, so tell me about your classes. How are the kids? Were they nice? Did they put thumbtacks on your chair?"

"You've been watching too many movies."

"That's what happens when you have two children under five. If I have to listen to another animated movie about a singing frog I'm going to lose my mind."

"Well, I hear there's a new one with a talking snowman."

"Oh, perfect, just what I need."

Esme ended the call around nine. She still had to shower and knowing the kids, Sarah would probably only get a couple hours before one of them was up.

She used the new lavender scented shampoo and soap she'd bought from the herbal store on her way home from work. It had hints of vanilla in it and by the time she was finished, had packed her lunch, and prepped her classes for tomorrow, she was thoroughly ready for bed.

She was asleep as soon as she hit the pillow.


	4. Chapter 4

Over the next couple months, Esme found herself settling into life in Forks. She joined the yoga class at the small, family-owned gym in town, she'd befriend several colleagues who invited her out to the local pub for drinks and pool on Saturday nights, and she'd finally gotten around to painting her apartment and ordering some more furniture in between stints of marking.

She'd even taken a side tutoring job on Thursday nights down at the La Push reservation. Billy Black, the man who had helped her secure a used car during her first week in Forks, had mentioned that his son was struggling in English. Now she had a weekly study group with Jacob Black and a couple of his friends. Billy hoped that with her help, Jacob would be able to pull his grades up. And she certainly agreed to give it her best shot.

Her job was demanding. Keeping up with her classes, attending the social functions at the school, and even stepping in as temporary girls volleyball coach for Tammi when she went on vacation, occupied most of her time, but she loved it. Except for the back and forth emails with the lawyer, Esme found that she had very little time to devote to thinking about Charles. And she was so tired at night that the nightmares that usually plagued her had almost vanished.

Winter had come early to Forks, dusting the ground by the end of October, and although the last snowfall had melted relatively quickly, the cold weather remained into the first weeks of November, coating the ground in slick patches of ice more often then not.

Esme made her way carefully back to work that afternoon, turning into the parking lot. She had forgotten her lesson plans for the junior classes and had rushed home during lunch to retrieve them, returning just before the bell. She grabbed her travel mug from the center console of the car and took a sip of her coffee.

Across the the lot, she could see where the Cullen's had parked. In her short time here she'd learned that most of the students had something of car envy when it came to the Cullen's. Supposedly there was a red convertible that had yet to make an appearance in the time she'd been here, but it was apparently an exciting day when that turned up. Truthfully, Esme knew very little abut cars, nor did she care for them much, other than to know that it was a safe vehicle that could take her from point A to point B.

That was something that drove Jacob mad, seeing as he could rhyme off the supposed Cullen car collection by heart, along with the horsepower and any detail work that had been done just by looking at them. The boy may have needed English help, but he certainly knew his cars.

Esme smiled to herself, watching as a couple students hurried up the steps ahead of the lunch bell. She reached across to the passenger seat to grab her bag, then popped open the door. As she stepped outside, the chilly winter air ate right through her stocking covered legs. She hurried to lock the car and crossed in front of the gym towards the nearest entrance.

Something appeared in her peripheral, on the edge of the treeline across the field, and as she turned slightly to see Jasper and Emmett come into view impossibly fast, she felt her feet give out from under her. The world turned to grey as she looked towards the sky and she felt the shuddering thunk as her back hit the ice. Then things went a bit fuzzy . . .

* * *

As Alice took her seat next to Bella, she noticed that Miss Platt was not standing in her usual spot at the front of the room but instead it was Mr. VanBuelen, the Vice Principal. He had a round, stout little body and a bristly kind of moustache, but was a usually cheery kind of man who Alice always imagined would make a wonderful kind of grandfather.

"Where's Miss Platt?" Bella wondered, leaning back towards Edward's desk.

"She fell," Edward said, staring at the Vice Principal. "On some ice, crossing in front of the gym. They think she hit her head so they've taken her to Forks General."

"This is perfect," Alice declared.

"I don't see how," Bella said, looking concerned opposed to frightfully excited.

Alice huffed. "Esme's on her way to the hospital. Carlisle works at the hospital. Honestly, Bella, have a little faith in fate."

Edward smirked.

"What?" Alice asked.

"Nothing."

"Oh not you too."

"Don't you know by now that I never bet against you?" He reached over and squeezed Bella's hand.

A quiet murmur had picked up in the class as the Vice Principal greeted one of the students who rolled in the AV equipment. Apparently they were watching a movie today. Alice sighed. "Well at least one of you knows better."

She looked over her shoulder at Edward, watching his brow furrow.

"What is it?" Bella whispered.

"Emmett's just outside. He thinks Miss Platt might have seen him and Jasper returning from hunting. They were coming out of the woods just before lunch ended and didn't slow down early enough. She turned so quickly to look at them, that she slipped."

"Oh dear," Bella said.

Edward stood. "I need to go to the hospital. To see if I can figure out what she thinks she saw. And to talk to Carlisle."

"Go," Alice said. "We'll cover for you."

* * *

Carlisle Cullen pulled the heavy chart belonging to Mr. Hudson from the shelf and sat at the nursing station to write his assessment note and a series of orders for the nursing staff to implement. The patient was a frequent flyer in the emergency department and had amassed quite the file over the years. And although a larger hospital might have all these records stored electronically, Forks had yet to enter the digital age. Where another doctor might struggle to make sense of the piles of tiny printed script, Carlisle had deduced a diagnosis before even entering the patient's room.

Today Mr. Hudson was in for what he described as an excruciating pain in his lower stomach which he was convinced was his appendix promptly exploding, to which he urged Carlisle to do emergency surgery. Carlisle on the other hand was quite sure it was simply kidney stones since the pain seemed to radiate to the man's back. He also had a history of dehydration and a high salt diet which made him high risk for stone development, so Carlisle was fairly confident in his diagnosis.

He scribbled his findings into the chart and signed the bottom before flagging down the lead nurse.

"Colleen," he said. "About Mr. Hudson—"

"Yes, doc, he'll be back in a few days," she said with an eye roll.

Carlisle smiled. The woman was in her late fifties, with greying brown hair and light blue eyes. She had a sharp wit and intelligence gleamed from years of experience as a trauma nurse. Carlisle found her to be one of the more tolerable nurses—at least he could count on her to listen to his instructions without going glassy-eyed. "Start an IV and hang a normal saline drip to re-hydrate him. I think it's just kidney stones. We'll see if he passes them on his own. I've ordered some toradol for the pain and some tamsulosin if he can't pass them."

"So we're admitting him?"

"For a while at least."

"Alrighty doc, but don't say I didn't warn you." As she said it the call light went off for Mr. Hudson's room and the phone started ringing on the desk. Colleen picked it up and slammed it down. "I'm coming Mr. Hudson!" She turned back to Carlisle with a thin smile. "You better hope these stones pass quickly."

As she hobbled away Carlisle turned towards the admitting bay at the sound of ambulance tires scratching against the gravel. The sirens weren't running, so it wasn't emergent, but anyone brought in by ambulance still garnered immediate attention.

Carlisle greeted the first paramedic as the bay door swung open. "Hey Isaac, what do we have?"

"Afternoon doc." He handed Carlisle a clipboard of information. "Esme Anne Platt. English teacher over at the high school—"

"I thought Mrs. Dower taught English?"

"She does. She's off on maternity leave. Miss Platt is filling in."

So this was the new teacher the kids had been talking about. Carlisle took a look at her vitals. "She had a fall?"

"Slipped on some ice outside of the gym. Office called us. Looks like she might have bumped her head. She insisted she was fine. It took a lot to get her in the ambulance, doc, honestly, but her vitals are stable. Minor dizziness upon standing, complaints of a headache, but no confusion or nausea yet. Real sweet lady; I think she's just embarrassed, so take good care of her."

Carlisle nodded. "Put her in bay 2. I want to do a neuro and maybe an x-ray just to make sure nothing is broken."

"You got it, doc."

Carlisle peeled off towards the nursing station again, gathering supplies. He found a neuro-vitals sheet and put a penlight in the pocket of his lab coat. Then he found his way over to bay 2 and stepped behind the curtain Isaac had pulled around the bed.

"Hello, I'm Doctor Cullen, I'm going to be looking after you—"

Carlisle felt the words stutter around his mouth as he took in the woman before him. The reaction was so unusual, so visceral, that he swallowed the venom that pooled in his mouth. For the first time in many years he was acutely aware of the scent of her blood. It was sweet in a way he hadn't experienced before, more so than any blood he'd ever smelled. For a brief moment he had to consciously pull on his legendary self control. It was such a shocking feeling that he found himself pulling over the small, hard-backed chair and sitting down by her bedside.

"Doctor?" the woman said.

He nodded, plastering a smile onto his face. He noted her brief inhale, her sweet floral scent, the uneven stutter of her pulse. "My apologies," he said. "Now Miss Platt—"

"Just Esme is fine."

"Esme," Carlisle said. It was a lovely name, unique and old world. "The paramedics said you had a fall. Is that correct?"

"It was nothing really, I slipped on some ice. I'm fine, doctor. This is all a bit much."

"Well, you're here now. No harm in letting me examine you, is there?" He offered her a gentle smile.

When she returned it, he felt as though his still heart might thump to life. She really was lovely, with hair the colour of fresh caramel and expressive green eyes. Carlisle suddenly found himself contemplating an attraction he thought long dead and just as quickly as it started, he pushed it away, focusing on the facts again.

"I suppose not."

"Wonderful." Carlisle pulled his pen from his pocket. "Now, can you tell me your full name?"

Esme raised a narrow brow and Carlisle chuckled. "I haven't forgotten, it's merely part of the assessment, so humour me, please?"

She gave him a good natured eye roll. "Esme Anne Ev—Platt."

Carlisle noted the minute hesitation in her voice, though doubted it was evident of a concussion. "And can you tell me where you are?"

"Forks General Hospital, currently sitting in emerge." She turned to the look at the numbered sign on the wall. "Bed B-2."

Carlisle smirked. "Point taken, you're alert and oriented."

He pulled the penlight from his pocket. "May I?"

Esme nodded.

He stood from the chair and moved to the edge of her bed. He pointed the light in her eyes, watching her pupils dilate. There were small flecks of gold in her eyes and he moved away before he lost track of what he was doing. He made a small notation on the neuro-vitals sheet.

"No concerns there," Carlisle said. He reached up towards the back of her head, hesitating slightly until Esme tipped forward, giving her consent for him to exam the back of her head.

He heard the sharp inhale as he prodded a tender spot and watched her hands clench. "How much does that hurt?"

Esme sighed.

"You know," Carlisle said, sitting down in the chair again. "This would go faster if you'd stop insisting you were fine."

"It's a little bump. So it's sore. I'll be fine."

"Scale of 1 to 10. 1 is no pain, 10 is the worst imaginable. How sore?"

"A 4 I guess. Maybe 5. I just need some Tylenol, doctor, which I can buy at the pharmacy. I'm sure you have more urgent patients."

Carlisle made a note on his paper. "Any dizziness?" He waited for her to try and deny it, though considering she'd already told the paramedics she'd have difficulty convincing him otherwise.

"Some," she admitted, "if I stand up too quickly. And—"

"Yes?"

She shook her head, letting her eyes fall closed, almost like she was debating whether or not she was going to tell him. But she winced at the movement and that seemed to convince her. "I'm nauseous. But it just started in the last few minutes."

"I see." Carlisle made another note. "Did you lose consciousness when you fell?"

Esme rested her head against her fingertips, "Yes, I—maybe for a moment."

"Okay, Esme, I suspect you have a concussion, so—"

"Really?"

"Yes, but with some rest, fluids, and something for your pain you should be back to work within the week."

"A week?" Esme said, sitting up so quickly her vision spun.

Carlisle reached out to steady her. "It's important that you not return to strenuous activity too quickly. And that's anything that overstimulates your mind. Limit screen time. Take a couple days off reading and marking. Reintroduce it slowly, when the symptoms are gone."

"So what am I supposed to do all day?"

"Rest," Carlisle said. "I'd like to keep you at least one day for observation. And to do an x-ray and make sure there are no skull fractures. I'm confident there's nothing to worry about, but I'd rather be safe."

Esme looked at him pleadingly.

"Is there someone I can call for you? Family? Friends?"

"No," Esme said quickly. "It's fine." She stared off for a moment, seemingly lost in thought. "Cullen," she murmured.

"What's that?"

"You don't happen to have children do you?"

Carlisle forced a wince, the kind a tired parent might. "I hope they haven't been causing you trouble?"

"Oh, no. Quite the opposite. They've been lovely."

"I'm glad to hear it. I'm afraid, with my work, that I'm not home as much as they might need, so it's nice to know they've made a good impression."

Esme regarded him.

"What is it?" he wondered, drawn in by the contemplative look on her face.

"It's just, you're so fair. Do the kids look more like your wife?"

"Ah," Carlisle said, understanding. It was a story he'd grown used to telling over the years. People were always curious about their family, and it appeared the newest addition to the town was no exception. Though his first thought was not of clarifying that, but of assuring Esme that he was indeed not married. He wasn't sure why this had become his top priority, but something inside him was urging him to explain that he was single.

"I'm not married, actually," Carlisle said, wiggling his hand for good measure.

"Oh," Esme said, a small line appearing between her brows.

Immediately Carlisle wanted to smooth the line away and he wondered what she was thinking. "I adopted them," he explained. "Rosalie and Jasper, however, whom I'm sure you've also met, belonged to my sister. When she passed it only made sense to take them in."

"Well that's quite the family," Esme said. "You're all very lucky to have each other."

And just like that Carlisle was amazed by her. There were no probing questions, no up and down once overs; just a genuine comment which couldn't have been closer to the truth.

In a moment of rare vulnerability, Carlisle let himself hold onto what she said. "I am very lucky," he agreed. "They've made my life all the more rewarding."

They shared a smile, something real and strange, which made Carlisle feel like his insides might be twisting into a ball, as impossible as that was for a vampire.

"Doc," Colleen appeared around the curtain suddenly. "Sorry to interrupt, but Mr. Hudson is insisting that he's having a heart attack." She put her hands on her hips, looking Esme up and down. "Oh hun, take your shoes off and get comfortable. Head injury. You're going to be here for a while."

"Colleen, can we get some acetaminophen for Miss Platt and an ice pack. If the nausea persists, I'll put in an order for dimenhydrinate."

"I'll get you whatever you want, doc, as long as you deal with Mr. Hudson." She looked at Esme. "He's the reason I went grey."

Colleen flitted from the room and Carlisle shrugged. "She really is a good nurse, I promise."

"She sounds like fun," Esme said.

"I'll be back when the results of your x-ray come in." He stood and walked away, somehow already missing her presence by the time he was on the other side of the curtain.

He made his way over to Mr. Hudson's room, assured the man he was not having a heart attack, and returned to the nursing station to assure Miss Platt's—Esme's—x-ray had been ordered. One of the younger nurses at the desk who wore too much mascara and always blinked heavily at him informed him that a porter had already come up to retrieve Miss Platt and take her down to imaging.

"Doctor Cullen," she called as he began to walk away. "Your son is here—Edward. He said he'd wait in your office."

"Thank you, Jenny."

Carlisle walked away as she beamed at him.

He could hear Edward before he'd even entered his office. The boy was leafing through the medical journals on his desk. "Anything interesting?" Carlisle asked by way of greeting.

"The new cardiac stenting procedure looks promising."

Carlisle nodded, sitting down behind his desk. "Is everything okay? Or did you really come to talk about stents?"

"No to the stents."

Carlisle's face fell. It wasn't unusual for the family to visit him at work, it was usually just preceeded by a text or a phone call. Edward turning up unexpectedly worried him.

"I assume you've seen to Miss Platt by now?" Edward said.

"Yes, how did you—"

"She slipped on some ice at school, but Emmett said he and Jasper had just emerged from the forest behind the high school. They were running to beat the bell and stopped late. He thinks she saw them. That's why she fell."

"I see." Carlisle folded his hands across his desk. "She didn't mention anything to me."

"Nor would she, I assume. It's not the most sane accusation."

"No, but I also didn't observe any unusual behaviour. She was pleasant. Spoke highly of the family."

"Do you think she'd say something?"

"I don't know. I'll keep an eye on her and let you know if anything comes of it." She'd obviously hit her head pretty hard and lost consciousness, so it was possible she had amnesia from right before the fall. With time those memories might return, though she'd most likely assume she'd imagined it. He hoped her x-rays came back clear, though he had no intention of discharging her until he was certain she wouldn't lose consciousness again.

"You're concerned for her?"

"Excuse me?" Carlisle said, breaking from his thoughts. He shook his head. "I'm sorry, Edward. My mind is somewhere else."

"I know." He grinned. "I heard. Carlisle, is there something about this woman?"

"I don't know, son. But right now she's a patient and I need to make sure she leaves my care in good standing."

"You're right. I'm going to return to school. Just . . . be careful. We don't know what she thinks right now."

"Thank you, Edward." They left the office together and parted at the nursing station. Carlisle watched Edward leave, as did much of the staff.

"Doctor!" Colleen called from her seat in front of one of the computers.

He looked over the top of the counter at her as she held up a large yellow folder.

"Platt's x-rays are back." She spun away on her chair as another call bell went off.

Carlisle moved around the back of the desk to retrieve the folder and slipped into the dark room behind the desk that housed the narcotics cupboard. He pressed the x-rays into the light box on the wall, flicked the switch, and studied the illuminated picture. There were no identifiable new fractures, but Carlisle did note shadowing that looked like the result of previously healed injuries. The longer he studied the image, the more he found, and concern built inside him. Patterns like this usually indicated some sort of trauma or abuse, and for the first time Carlisle wondered what brought Esme to the sleepy little town of Forks.

Seeing as there was nothing of present concern, Carlisle filed away the x-rays and returned to bay 2, finding Colleen switching out an ice pack for the back of Esme's head.

"Good news," he said. "There are no skull fractures."

"Well that's a relief," Esme said, wincing as Colleen adjusted the ice pack. "Can I go now?"

"I'm afraid not. You'll be with us overnight."

Esme sighed. "It was worth a try."

"Nice one, hun, but nothing gets past the doc and me." They could hear Mr. Hudson's call bell going off again. "It's why people keep coming back for repeat visits."

Colleen marched away, hollering down that hall at Mr. Hudson.

"How's the nausea?" Carlisle asked.

"Better now. The drugs have kicked in and I'm tired. Is it okay to sleep or is that a bad sign?"

Carlisle chuckled. "Keeping a concussed person awake is a myth. As long as you're able to hold a conversation and no other symptoms are developing, I'd say you're safe to sleep. At this point it's actually good for you and will help the brain recover."

"Good," Esme sighed, "because if I'm not allowed to read or mark I need something to pass the time."

"It'll only be for a few days."

"Yes and by then I'll be drowning in essays."

"I can imagine," Carlisle said. "If I put off my charting for a couple days I probably wouldn't even want to come to work again."

Esme smiled. "It's a good thing I like my work."

"Then we'll work on getting you back there as soon as possible."

Esme covered her mouth as she yawned. Carlisle nodded gently and slipped around the curtain to let her rest. Again he felt odd leaving her, but invigorated by their conversation. He wanted to know more about her, to learn everything there was to know about her: likes, dislikes, her past, how she came to be in Forks. Why she went into teaching? He wondered what the others thought of her? Wondered what it would be like to have a conversation that wasn't over a hospital bed?

He plopped down in the chair at the nursing station, starting a chart for Esme, but for a long time just stared at the curtain, thinking about the woman asleep behind it and the odd feelings tightening in his chest.


End file.
